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Film | by Shane “31 Days Of Deadlines” Hnetka

October is just around the corner and that means it’s time for 31 Days of Horror — my annual blog series on horror films. Hooray! Last year, I tackled the impressive library of classic British film studio Hammer Films. This year’s theme? In honour of a certain TV show that turned 50 this year, I’m calling it Space: The Spooky Frontier. Every day in October I’ll write about a scary science-fiction movie. There will be columns on your favourite futuristic fear-fests but I’ll also cover obscure films that are worth your time. So raise shields, set phasers on “fear” and lay in a course to www.planetsmag.com. We beam down Saturday, Oct. 1. Don’t wear a red shirt!

“Oh What A Day…What A Lovely Day!”

I’ve written before that Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller considered a black and white version of the film before settling on a saturated colour palette. “One thing I’ve noticed is that the default position for everyone is to de-saturate post-apocalyptic movies,” he told Slashfilm last year, adding “…the best version of this movie is black and white, but people reserve that for art movies now.”

Well, on Dec. 6 Miller’s black and white version of Mad Max: Fury Road gets a DVD/Blu-ray release. It should be interesting. Sometimes black and white enhances a film. For example, 2007’s The Mist definitely plays better in black and white.

Black and white shouldn’t only be for art films — that’s such a cliché. A movie should get the treatment the director thinks it needs.

I’m looking forward to seeing Miller’s colour-free masterpiece in all its shiny and chrome-y glory.

The Birds is Coming

This October, Cineplex’s Classic Film Series focuses on Alfred Hitchcock — specifically his 1963 thriller, The Birds. On Oct. 2, 12 and 17, you can experience Hitchcock’s feathery, peck-y and terrifying masterpiece the way it should be seen: on the big screen.

The Birds is about young, impulsive woman (Tippi Hedren) who falls for handsome lawyer Rod Taylor and follows him to his family home out on the coast in a small little town. Once Hedren arrives, she discovers his mother doesn’t like her. Also, birds attack the town.

Feathers are ruffled, people are pecked, and panic escalates.

I won’t spoil anything, other than to say that The Birds is fantastic, darkly funny and, despite some special effects that haven’t aged well, one of Hitchcock’s best. If you haven’t seen it, now’s your chance.

Shane Hnetka is a Saskatchewan film and comic book nerd who will somehow crank out 31 blog columns on horror movies — one every day — starting Oct. 1. Fear for his sanity.